Not the size of the forests but how much virgin forest there was. Burn the forest, plant corn and squash around the big trees that are still standing, clear the land one or two more years, move to new location and repeat. You run out of Virgin forest mighty fast that way.
frank theriault wrote: > On 7/3/07, P. J. Alling <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> The Indians, (Native Americans to the PC crowd), practiced slash and >> burn agriculture. There wasn't nearly that much Virgin Forest. >> > > It's unlikely that the Native American population in what is now North > America would have been much more than 10 million (most estimates are > lower) at the time of Columbus (not that he "discovered" North > America, but his arrival is a convenient point to freeze time). > > I doubt that in an area the size of present-day Canada and US, such a > population (not all of whom were practicing slash and burn > agricultire) would have had a serious impact on the size of the > forests... > > cheers, > frank > > > -- All dogs have four legs; my cat has four legs. Therefore, my cat is a dog. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
